


Prince Charming

by imaginarycircus



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Crack, Drugs, Established Relationship, Fairy Tales, M/M, Revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-08
Updated: 2011-11-08
Packaged: 2017-10-25 20:26:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/274436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginarycircus/pseuds/imaginarycircus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve thinks he's Prince Charming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prince Charming

**Author's Note:**

  * For [celli](https://archiveofourown.org/users/celli/gifts).



> This started out as a fairy tale crack fic for celli and then turned oddly serious and a bit dark.
> 
> Huge thanks to stellarmeadow and sunhawk for reading, and encouraging, and comma wrangling.

Danny came back from the grocery store to find Grace sitting on the floor surrounded by My Little Ponies who were all facing the Television and watching "Snow White."

"Did Uncle Steven just park you in front of the TV, Monkey?" Danny ignored the frozen food he'd felt so urgently needed to get into the freezer just a moment ago. He was going to strangle Steve. The TV is not a babysitter. He'd said it a million times.

"He said I could watch for a few minutes," Grace said happily, without breaking eye contact with the TV.

Snow White was in her coffin, having eaten the poisoned apple, so Grace had been watching for more than a few minutes. Danny started shoving the frozen vegetables and ice cream into the freezer, while grumbling things he hoped Grace couldn't hear.

He was just putting the eggs and milk in the refrigerator when he heard Steve come thundering down the stairs.

"Where am I? Who art thou?" Steve was brandishing a sword and that was not the strangest thing about his outfit. He was wearing the sort of thing that—well, Danny's brain actually had trouble latching onto words. He glanced at the screen of the TV. Prince Charming. Steve was dressed kind of like Prince Charming, or a Shakespearean actor. In Hawaii. On a 95 degree day.

Then it clicked. Steve was dressing up to amuse Grace, although Danny wondered where he'd gotten such a convincing costume.

"Steven, we've talked about ordering stuff off of the Internet, but it was very sweet of you to do this for her." Danny moved towards him to hug him, but Steve did something complicated and very nearly lethal with his sword, which from the way it cut through the air, appeared to be quite real.

"Be you knight or knave?" Steve held the point of the sword within striking distance of Danny's heart and the whole thing wasn't funny anymore.

"Babe, you're taking this a little too seriously." Danny's Irish was up.

"Uncle Steven!" Grace ran to him and Steve whipped his sword behind his back.

"Fair maiden." Steve bowed with one leg stuck out in front of him. "But where are your clothes, child?"

"You said we were going for a swim, remember? So I put on my bathing suit." Grace made a move for the door and Steve dashed in front of her.

"Child, you mayn't venture outside in your all together."

Grace giggled, but Danny was not amused.

"Steve, enough is enough. Drop the act and go put on your bathing suit. It's going to be close to a hundred today." Danny started putting the cereal away, banging the cabinet doors a bit and shoving the boxes roughly into place.

"Sirrah, why do you keep calling me Steven?"

"Uh, because it's your name?" Danny called over his shoulder.

"No, tis not. My name is Charming, from the French _Charmant_ , Prince _Charmant._ " Steve bowed again with a flourish. "I'm here on a quest. But who are you? And to whom do you swear fealty?"

Grace had wrapped a towel around herself like an evening gown and piped up, saying, "This is my father Sir Daniel The Brave, and I am his daughter Grace."

Grace curtseyed and Steve bowed again and they both looked at Danny who sighed loudly and inclined his head. That's as far as he was willing to go in this charade.

"Perhaps you can aid me, Sir Daniel," Steve said and slid his sword into its scabbard. "I'm on a quest to slay a dragon, and win the hand of a fair princess, thus restoring my family name and fortune."

"Oh, really. I thought you were sworn off princesses these days," Danny said.

"Danno, that's not how you play the game," Grace hissed.

"OK, fine. Charming? That's what you want to be called?" Danny asked Steve.

"Tis my name," he said. Not even a hint of a smile. He was good, but Danny was going to make him pay later, or maybe sooner.

"Come on, Charming. We'll get you into your bathing suit and then you can take Grace for a swim and make sure no dragons, or sharks attack. Are you up for that?"

"A quest! I am at your service." Steve bowed again. Danny rolled his eyes.

"Well?" Danny said, hands on hips. "Are you going to go put on your bathing suit or do you need help, babe."

"I am no babe in arms." Steve threw his cape back and motioned at the clothing that was snug against his body in all the right places. The jacket emphasized his broad shoulders and narrow waist, but his pants looked painted on and left nothing to the imagination. Danny's mouth went a little dry.

"Come on." Danny said gruffly and shoved Steve up the stairs. Over his shoulder, he told Grace to finish watching the movie and that they'd be down in a minute.

Danny had to repeatedly push and steer Steve up the stairs and into their bedroom to get him there. Steve kept trying to turn around and remove Danny's hands from his person.

"What is with you?" Danny flung Steve's blue swim trunks at him.

"I do not comprehend your meaning, good sir." Steve held up the swim trunks. "This is my bathing costume?"

"This isn't funny, Steven. Cut the crap."

"I'm afraid the strangeness of your speech puzzles me greatly, sir." Steve unbuckled his sword and belt and tossed them on the bed. He unlaced the front of his jacket, removed it, and threw it on top of his sword. That was not at all like Steve, who couldn't stand to see a shirt wrinkle, or an item not put back precisely where it belonged. Danny watched him pull off the linen shirt he'd been wearing underneath the jacket and throw it in a crumpled pile on top of the jacket.

He sat down and held one booted foot out to Danny. "Would you be so kind, sirrah?"

Danny huffed, but pulled Steve's boots off, first the left and then the right. Steve stood up with his legs enclosed in off-white leather hose that fit him like a glove. Danny couldn't help but stare, couldn't help but launch himself at Steve with a growl.

They landed on top of Steve's costume and the sword. Danny bent to kiss Steve, who had a strange, almost alarmed, look on his face.

"What?" Danny paused an inch away from Steve's face.

"Sir, I know that such things do happen between men, but I am not of their persuasion." Steve did not take his eyes from Danny's mouth as he spoke.

"Oh, really." Danny grabbed Steve's crotch and felt Steve's erection against his palm. "You seem persuaded to me."

Steve's cheeks flushed bright red and that's when Danny knew something was actually wrong and this wasn't a game Steve was playing. He pushed himself off Steve.

"Steve? What's going on?" Danny felt sick.

Steve looked puzzled, but said nothing.

Danny picked up the linen shirt, but it had no label inside. He scanned the room and found a large brown cardboard box. Steve's name and address was printed clearly, but there was no return address. There was no packing slip that Danny could find either.

"Where did you get these clothes?" Danny asked.

"They were made for me by various servants—"

"Fine. Take off your pants," Danny barked and when Steve didn't move, Danny said, "Take your pants off. I think they're making you crazy."

Steve stood up and stripped off his hose and dropped them to the floor. Normally Danny loved to see Steve naked, but at that moment he was too busy looking for some sign that Steve was in there at all.

"Steve?"

Steve shook his head and said in a gentle voice, "Sir, I fear you are addlepated. My name is Charming."

"Fine. That's just great. Put on those swim trunks and you and Grace can swim. You can swim, can't you?"

"I swam the Long Lake to rescue the Lady Matilda and her seven hand-maidens from the terror of Torwald the Tone-Deaf."

"What the actual fuck?" Danny looked at the clothes, but didn't touch them. "Just put on those swim trunks, Stev—Charming."

Steve picked them up and pulled them on. He moved around experimentally and then he smiled. "Ingenious." Then to Danny's horror he picked up his sword and fastened it about his trim waist.

"What are you doing?"

"How am I supposed to protect your offspring without my trusty blade? What if we meet with some devilish sea monster?"

"Won't it get rusty?" The question tumbled out of Danny's mouth before he'd had time to think it through.

"Not if I dry it after our swim."

Danny took two beach towels and handed them to Steve, whose eyes boggled. "What marvelous designs and colors. I have never seen their like. Your house is filled with objects both wondrous and strange."

"Yeah, OK." Danny said and led Steve back down the stairs to Grace. "You and Prince Charming are going swimming now, Gracie. TV off."

Grace jumped up and switched off the TV, scattering My Little Ponies everywhere and raced out the door with her towel over her shoulder. Steve and Danny followed at a more sedate pace.

Grace waded in up to her knees, but waited for Steve to join her before going any further. She was a good kid. Danny's heart did some sort of complicated tumbling exercise in his chest as he watched Steve reach out, take her hand, and wade deeper into the water. Steve was obviously having some kind of nervous break down, or something. Maybe he shouldn't trust him with Grace.

He figured it was probably better to have a happily occupied fruit-loop on his hands, instead of one waving a sword about irritably.

Danny sat down heavily in one of the well-weathered Adirondack chairs and called Kono on his cell. "We have a problem… "

*

Kono couldn't stop laughing, but Danny failed to see any humor in the situation.

"He's swimming with a sword on and (gasp) he thinks he's (snort) Prince Charming? I don't see what the problem is." Tears streamed from her eyes.

"Yeah, it's hilarious that the head of Five-O is possessed by some Elizabethan clothing." Danny did not dare take his eyes off Grace. He reminded himself that he trusted Steve, but then he reminded himself that Steve wasn't exactly available at the moment.

"How do you know it's the clothing?" Kono asked once she'd calmed down enough to breathe and speak.

Danny shrugged. "It's the only thing that makes sense. I bet Wo Fat is behind this."

"You think Wo Fat sent Steve cursed clothes and Steve was stupid enough to put them on?" Kono sat down next to Danny. "Remember that basket of muffins we got last Christmas? He wouldn't let us eat them since we didn’t know whom they were from. A man who is suspicious of muffins is not going to put on a weird outfit when he doesn't know where it's from. Also you know he hates costumes."

"Well, I don't know. Maybe he thought I ordered it…" Danny ran his hands through his hair, which was rapidly approaching haystack territory.

"Danny, everyone knows how you feel about the Internet."

"Hey, there are other ways to order stuff, you know. Catalogs and things."

Kono pursed her lips for a moment and then said, "Maybe Steve fell. Hit his head?"

"He's not dizzy, his balance is fine—he just thinks he's Prince Charming. I don't see how hitting his head could cause that without any other symptoms."

"Maybe," Kono tilted her head, "maybe he's having a nervous breakdown?"

Danny's stomach swooped hot and low. He tugged at his hair again. This was not happening. "That actually makes the most sense. Cursed clothing? What was I thinking?"

Kono patted Danny on the arm. "Wishful thinking, probably."

"So, what do we do? Who do we call?" Danny scratched the back of his hand. He felt fidgety, nervous.

"Maybe Chin could talk to Malia?" Kono slipped her phone out of the pocket of her shorts.

Danny watched Grace splash Steve in the face and decided to let Steve and Grace swim as long as they felt like since God only knows what was going to happen next. Lunch could wait. This was so not how the day was supposed to go, Danny thought bitterly. Maybe there'd been signs that Steve was heading for a crack up and Danny hadn't been paying attention? No, he thought, no. He would have noticed. Steve was always crazy, but not delusional. Something wasn't right. Well, nothing was actually right at the moment. And Danny hadn't realized just how central Steve had become to his happiness.

"Shit," he said.

"What?" Kono put her phone back in her pocket.

Danny shook his head. "What'd Chin say?"

"It took me a couple of minutes to convince him I wasn't kidding, but he and Malia are coming over. She's not a psychiatrist, but she can examine him. I figured it couldn't hurt."

Danny watched Steve, who stayed right by Grace's side and seemed perfectly normal, at least until he opened his mouth and said something loony. Not that Danny could hear him, but he could see Grace looking confused every so often. Mostly she was laughing and seemed to be having fun though so Danny let them be. He just didn't take his eyes off them for a second.

Malia and Chin arrived looking wary, as if they expected this was really a practical joke, until Danny called Steve to come out of the water.

"Are these your servants, Sir Daniel?"

Danny scrubbed a hand over his face. "No, Charming. These are my friends. Chin, Malia, and Kono. Malia is a doctor and she'd like to examine you, if that would be all right."

"Examine me for what? I haven't had lice since I was a lad."

"Uh, she wants to examine you for your—" Danny gestured into the air at nothing.

"For your quest," Kono said. "Make sure you're up to dragon standards. It's routine before a quest. This is your first one, huh?"

"Well, dragons are extremely rare these days," Steve said, but he was blushing again. Danny hadn't seen Steve blush this much since their first date.

Malia beckoned Steve inside and Danny tried to think how to explain what was going on to Grace, who was standing next to him. She slipped her small hand into his large one.

"Is Uncle Steve going to be all right, Daddy?" she said. She only called him that when she was worried.

"I hope so."

"Is this like what happened with your Uncle Marty?"

"I don't know, honey. I hope not." Danny didn't even know Grace knew about Marty. She must have overhead the grownups talking at his parents' house at some point. Little pitchers…

"I'm sure Steve is going to be OK," Kono said and patted Danny on the back.

"I wish I could be so sure," Danny said. He sat back down and pulled Grace into his lap, even though she was getting a little too big for that and she was damp from swimming. He held her tight against his chest and breathed in the scent of her hair, which smelled of cherries and brine.

It seemed like forever and day that Danny stared at the waves breaking on the shore, but it was something like fifteen minutes later that Malia came back out.

"I suspect that he's been drugged. He's got many of the symptoms of amphetamine psychosis. He's delusional, slightly paranoid, flushed, and his heartbeat is very rapid. His pupils are like pin pricks."

"Is he going to be OK?" Danny set Grace down and stood up.

"He should be fine once the drug is out of his system, but I'd like to monitor him and run a tox screen."

"How could this happen? Steve would never take drugs like that unless they were prescribed. Even then I have to practically hold him down to get him to pop two Advil after he's busted half his ribs." Danny paced back and forth.

"Maybe someone spiked something he ate or drank?" Chin offered.

"Danny! The clothes," Kono said and headed quickly towards the house. Danny and Malia hurried after her.

"What clothes?" Malia said, keeping pace with Kono.

"Someone sent Steve a costume and he put it on. That's when he started acting like this." Danny opened the door and let the women enter the house first.

"We can have Charlie test them," Danny said and turned to Malia. "When you run your tox screen, can you make sure he isn't overdosing or anything?"

Malia nodded. "Get some clean clothes for him and we'll take him to the hospital."

Danny got a pair of rubber kitchen gloves and a couple of trash bags from the kitchen and bagged up Steve's costume, being careful not to let it touch his own skin or clothing. Then he washed his hands twice and brushed his teeth, and flossed, for no good reason, but it made him feel better.

Kono had gone to help Grace pack up her things and Danny was on the phone with Rachel, explaining why she had to come home early, when he went back downstairs and dropped his phone.

Steve was standing in the middle of the living room brandishing his sword at Chin and Malia.

"You'll never take me alive," he screamed. His face was beet red and all his tendons stood out in his neck.

"Steve, er, Charming. Hey, Your Highness? Easy there." Danny slipped between Chin and Steve with his hands palms out.

"Sir Daniel. Your manservant tried to take my sword."

"He just wants to uh, sharpen it for you, Your Highness. Isn't that right, Chin?" Danny looked over his shoulder at Chin.

"Yeah. I was going to sharpen it and oil the belt. Salt water isn't good for leather."

"Well, why didn't you say so my good fellow," Steve dropped the point of his sword to the floor and clapped Danny heartily on the shoulder. He offered the pommel of the sword to Chin and took off the belt. Danny handed Chin the rubber gloves to put on and held open a trash bag, into which he dropped the belt.

*

Steve looked normal now in a polo shirt and a pair of shorts. Danny managed to steer him into a pair of slippahs and after several minutes of coaxing, wrangled him into Chin's SUV. The confused look on Steve's face nearly broke Danny, but it was even harder not to be able to hug him or kiss him. Danny had to settle for patting him on the shoulder and saying, "Don't worry. It's going to be OK."

*

Danny watched Steve shuffle back and forth across the small room, dragging the IV pole with him. He was clearly agitated and kept scratching his arms and picking at his face. Talking to him seemed to make him worse, so Danny kept quiet, unless Steve tried to pull or scratch at the IV in his hand.

Malia returned and Steve tensed like he might jump her.

"Hi, do you remember me?" she asked him.

Steve nodded and relaxed a little.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Steve. I think it's Steve. Right?" He started scratching his arm, leaving livid red trails behind.

"That's right. And I'm Malia. I'm a doctor." She gently stilled his scratching hand. "I'm going to give you something to make you feel better, OK?" She pulled a syringe out of her coat pocket and injected it into his IV.

"Steve, you should sit down. This is probably going to make you a little sleepy." She helped him sit down and almost immediately his fidgeting slowed. She took his pulse and tucked her hair behind her ears before turning to Danny. "His tox screen showed that he's been given a large dose of Benzedrine. I'm going to keep giving him fluids to help flush the drug out of his system. I just gave him some haloperidol to calm him down and to counteract the amphetamine psychosis."

"He's psychotic?"

Malia nodded. "It's rare, but it happens. Usually with long-term users, but occasionally with especially large doses of amphetamines. It causes delusions and hallucinations."

"Is it permanent? What are we going to do? How am I going to explain this to Grace?"

"No, Danny. Calm down. Once the drug is out of his system he should be fine. We'll keep him here until we're sure he's detoxed."

Danny couldn't stop fidgeting and pulling at his hair.

"Danny, did you touch Steve's costume?"

"Yeah, yeah. I did. For a moment… Oh, crap. Is that why I can't sit down?" He loosened his tie and started to breathe as if he'd been running hard.

"I'm going to have a nurse bring you some orange juice, OK. I want you to breathe deeply. Good. Can you take another deep breath for me?" Malia listened to his heartbeat and his breath sounds. "We'll run a tox screen on you, OK? See if you absorbed any of the drug." She called in a nurse to take some of Danny's blood.

Danny nodded. He still felt like he was being suffocated. He unbuttoned a couple of more buttons on his shirt and felt around his throat to make sure there was nothing there strangling him.

Steve was quiet now and Danny couldn't sit next to him. He had to pace. It was the only way he could breathe. He was going to kill Wo Fat for this. He paced and paced and picked all the loose threads off his clothing, until he started pulling out the stitching on the cuffs of his dress shirt.

Malia returned after what seemed like eighteen years and said, "You got a very low level dose of Benzedrine. It's probably making you feel edgy. I can give you an anti-anxiety med if you want one, but you should be feeling better in a few hours."

"I hate this feeling. Please, please give me something," Danny begged.

Malia called in the nurse and asked her to give Danny a dose of Ativan.

"Just try to breathe and have the nurse page me if you need anything. I have to go check on my other patients."

"Malia, I can't thank you enough." Danny's throat constricted around his words. He took the pill the nurse bought him in a little plastic cup.

Malia nodded and smiled softly before hurrying off to the oncology ward.

"How are you feeling?" Danny pulled his chair over to Steve's.

Steve rolled his head slowly and looked at Danny for a full minute before saying, "Danny?"

"Yeah, babe. I'm here." Danny slid his hand into Steve's and gave it a small squeeze.

"Someone drugged me?"

"Yeah, what do you remember?"

"I thought I was Prince Charming?"

"Yeah, you did. Someone dosed you with amphetamines and they kind of fried your brain a bit. But you're going to be OK."

"Who did this to me?" Steve's words dropped slowly from his lips.

Danny shook his head. "We'll find him, babe. Don't worry about that right now. Charlie is testing the costume. Chin is doing research with Kono. Lori is keeping Denning informed."

"Thank them for me," Steve said, eyes glassy.

"Thank them yourself. You'll be back at work soon enough. Just tell me one thing. Why did you put on the costume? Weren't you suspicious?"

Steve shook his head slowly, "No. Though it was a surprise for Grace that you'd arranged. You know how she's been a Snow White kick lately and Halloween is coming."

Danny kissed Steve gently and said, "I love you, you idiot."

Steve nodded. "Good." He closed his eyes and drifted into sleep or possibly just a stupor. Danny let him be and let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding in. Eventually the tight feeling in his chest eased and he didn't want to tear his own hair out anymore. He fell asleep holding Steve's hand.

*  
It took a couple of days for Steve to regain his equilibrium and energy, but he looked fine leaning against the tech table and listening to Chin's findings.

"Charlie found very high concentrations of Benzedrine embedded in your costume. It was a hot day so your sweat mixed with the drug and you absorbed it through your skin. You're lucky it absorbs slowly that way or you would have OD'd."

"I'm lucky Danny got me out of the costume pretty quickly." Steve shot him a grateful smile.

"We can't get a lead on where the costume came from. It looks like it was all hand made. The sword is real, but it's the kind that can be bought at any fantasy convention. The manufacturer sells thousands of them each year and there is no way to trace who bought it."

"But Wo Fat—" Danny started to say.

"There's no sign that Wo Fat did this. It really doesn't seem like his M.O. And he'd want us to know it was him. He always leaves some kind of signature, but there is nothing here. Nothing in the clothing," said Chin.

"Who else could it be?" Danny tapped his fingers on the edge of the table.

"We've arrested a lot of people in the last year, Danny." Kono raised one eyebrow.

"OK, let's compile a list and—"

"Already done." Chin threw a whole boatload of photos up onto the screen. "We've arrested two-hundred and twenty-eight people. One hundred and seventy-three of our suspects have been indicted and are serving sentences or are waiting to stand trial."

"But wouldn't it be someone on the outside? Someone free to move around?" Danny didn't think this was the kind of thing someone could pull off from the inside.

"Could be a relative or friend?" Kono offered.

"No." Steve shook his head. "Danny's right. We should look at people who aren't in prison. Maybe someone we arrested has some beef with me? Let's look at people I may have pissed off."

"There isn't exactly a Boolean search for that, Steve." Chin scratched his head.

"We're going to have to do this the old fashioned way then. Case file by file." Danny said, "I'll order some lunch."

They were halfway through the A's when they caught a new case (gun runners) and were forced to start doing research on Steve's mystery assailant between regular cases.

"We're never going to figure it out," Steve said and took a corner a little too sharply on their ride home.

"Slow down, Speed Demon. I would like to get home in one piece, OK?"

"Sorry, I'm just frustrated."

"I know. That's why I wanted to drive," Danny said.

"Driving clears my head."

"Look, Steven. I know it's been a hard month. But we'll get the guy. We will. Just not today. Maybe not even tomorrow. We've got another box of case files in the trunk. We'll go through them over dinner. But we are going to eat a real dinner sitting down at the table, OK?"

"OK," Steve said, but his jaw rippled with frustration and words unsaid.

*

They were halfway through the E's and they'd only turned up two possible suspects, though neither had panned out upon further investigation. One had no means or opportunity, and the second had turned up dead.

"Maybe we're looking in the wrong place?" Danny suggested as he dug his toes down into the cool sand on the lana'i.

Steve popped the cap on a beer and passed it to Danny. "Maybe."

"Could this be someone you pissed off when you were a SEAL?"

Steve made the sour face that Danny knew meant he disagreed.

"Why not?" Danny asked.

"It's unlikely that anyone I pissed off on a covert mission knows who I am."

"But it's not impossible, right? Strawberry Fields?" Danny sipped his beer. The hairs on his neck stood on end. He felt like every creeper in the galaxy was watching them all of a sudden.

"No. You're right. It's not impossible." Steve sighed heavily. "I can call Catherine and ask her to do some research."

Danny slid his warm bare foot over and brushed it against the top of Steve's foot because their fingers were cold and wet.

*

Catherine had no Intel for Steve, which left him in a foul mood for two days. He broke a suspect's arm while chasing him down Kalihi Street.

Danny got in Steve's face when he caught up to him. He shoved Steve away from the suspect. "Yo, Roid Rage. Walk it off!"

Steve immediately walked away while Danny gingerly inspected Steve's handiwork and called for an ambulance.

"He's crazy. Broke my fucking arm, man." The suspect lay on the ground, clutching his crooked arm to his chest.

Thankfully Danny heard sirens approaching almost immediately, which was one of the few perks of chasing suspects through downtown Honolulu.

"Hey, Williams." Jerry stepped off the back of the bus and knelt down with his orange kit to examine the suspect. "Ouch. Compound fracture of the humerus. Nasty fall?"

"Yeah, with a hundred and seventy five pounds of Navy SEAL on top of him," Danny said.

"McGarrett." Jerry shook his head with disgust.

"What's that face?" Danny demanded.

"The dude is dangerous." Jerry shrugged and put a quick splint and sling on the suspect.

"Only to criminals." Danny's voice bloomed with anger.

"Yeah, and what happened to innocent until proven guilty?" Jerry helped the suspect stand up. "And Palakiko—what about him? He wasn't so lucky and he didn't do a damned thing to deserve what got. You coming with this guy, or not?"

"Not." Danny waved over an HPD officer and sent him with the ambulance and the suspect.

"You OK now?" Danny walked over to Steve who was still breathing hard and looked distinctly rumpled.

"Yeah, sorry. I shouldn't have jumped him so hard."

"It was an accident. In our line of work accidents happen. Right?"

Steve nodded and squinted down at Danny and said, "What?"

"Did you hear Jerry? Who's Palakiko? Know anyone by that name?" Danny said.

Steve shook his head. Sweat dripped down his face and Danny would never admit, but he didn't miss his ties on days like today when it was almost ninety-five degrees in the shade.

Danny took out his phone and called Lori, who was back at HQ. "Hey, can you look up the name Palakiko and see if anyone by that name ever crossed paths with our fearless leader here? Thank you. Yeah, I'll wait."

Steve was watching Danny's face very carefully.

"Danny? I found a Hinano Palakiko. He was the paramedic Steve assaulted after Hesse stabbed him in prison."

"Oh, crap." Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. "I mean thanks. We'll check in later."

Danny wondered how he could have forgotten about Palakiko. The guy had wanted to sue Steve for everything he was worth, but the governor had interceded and convinced him not to. He was supposed to have gotten a settlement from the state.

"Apparently that paramedic you beat to hell when Hesse stabbed you? Hasn't forgiven you." Danny was ready to grab him when Steve moved toward the car.

"Do we have an address?" Steve's face purpled.

"No, we do not. There is no we. You've already done enough damage here. This is one china shop you are not going to destroy."

"But Danny he drugged me. He poisoned me. He could have killed me. I want to arrest him."

Danny gripped Steve's arms hard and shook him a little bit. "Listen to me. Hey! I said listen to me. We will arrest him if there is evidence that he committed this crime. Chin and Kono and I will arrest him. You will do nothing—"

"But I can't—"

"Steven, listen to me. You will do nothing. You will stay out of the way. Do you know why?"

"I won't hurt him. I'll do everything by the book. I'll—"

"Goddamnit. You are not listening to me. You are not hearing me. You won't do anything. You won't be there. If you so much as sneeze the wrong way in proximity to Palakiko, it could cost you everything. Your job, your house, everything. And I am not going to lose you over this. Do you hear me? I won't do it. It's not going to happen. You will sit on your hands at HQ. You won't question the suspect. You won't do anything. You will recuse yourself." Danny was gripping Steve's arms so hard he was going to leave bruises. "What does recuse mean, Steven?"

"I won't do anything." Steve deflated. He looked like a kid who'd been given measles for his birthday instead of that pony he'd been hoping for.

*

By the time they got back to HQ, Lori and Kono had dug up a lot about Palakiko. He'd gone on long-term disability after Steve has assaulted him. He'd sustained a pretty nasty head injury that had left him unable to work. He'd also majored in chemistry in college.

Steve grew more and more rigid as Kono relayed the information.

"OK," Danny clapped his hands together and said, "So we have a good suspect here. I think Lori and Kono should go and question him. Chin and I will stay here with you, Steven. If you need backup, call HPD and don't bring Palakiko here for questioning if you arrest him."

Kono and Lori left without looking at Steve. Danny waited until Steve gave a single curt nod and went and closed himself in his office before saying to Chin, "He knows this is how this has to be if we want to make this stick."

Chin nodded. He understood that it would take both him and Danny to bring Steve down if he made a run for it. Danny had hidden the keys to the Camaro, even the spare key Steve probably thought he didn't know about.

Time seemed to slow almost to nothing and Danny was too jumpy to play so much as a game of solitaire on his laptop. He watched Steve's every move. And damn, the guy might as well have ice water flowing through his veins for all the emotion he showed. He sat rigidly behind his desk and stared into the middle distance at nothing. If he knew Danny was watching him, he betrayed no sign of it.

Danny felt he would never entirely comprehend this uber stoic side of Steve, and also like he'd never fully understand him because of this missing puzzle piece. It galled him a bit because he wanted every bit of Steve, even the parts that made him worry like mad, and the parts that made him so angry he could spit.

Danny's phone jolted him and he almost hit ignore call accidentally. "Kono?"

"We got him. His apartment was full of surveillance photos and video of you and Steve and Grace. HPD is taking him in to their holding cells. CSU is here processing all the evidence. Lori and I are making sure everything gets taken care of. How is he?"

"He's pretending everything is fine, you know how he is. Keep me updated, OK?"

"Will do." Kono hung up.

Danny hurried into Steve's office and his eyes snapped up to Danny's face. Danny nodded once. Steve's expression softened.

"This is all my own fault," he said.

Danny was torn about agreeing so he just let Steve work through this piece of gristle on his own.

"I was trained to do everything at a hundred and ten percent and sometimes it's kind of hard to take it down a notch, or two, in these situations." Steve's eyes flashed remorsefully at the floor and then he closed them tight. "I am so sorry, Danny. I put you and Grace in danger."

"You did, but your life was in danger and you were injured when you beat up Palakiko. I'm not going to fault you for not thinking clearly that time. And Palakiko—well, maybe you knocked one of his screws loose, but he shouldn't have tried to poison you. He's going to pay for that."

Steve still looked uncomfortable. "I was trained to shut off remorse and do as ordered, but that doesn't seem to work so well for this job. I don't know how to change, Danny."

"Yeah," Danny said. He honestly didn't have a clue. "I don't know either. We can think on it, but right now let's get out of here and go home and make a nice dinner--"

"Hey, I don't want to celebrate this one. It doesn't feel right," Steve stood up and patted his pockets for the keys to the Camaro.

"We're not celebrating Palakiko's arrest." Danny crossed the room and took Steve's face in his hands. "We're celebrating that you're alive and we're together. This is about us."

And then he kissed him gently, the kind of kiss that starts out sweet and innocent, but promises there will be more later, more of everything.

"I don't deserve a happy ending," Steve said as he followed Danny out into the bullpen.

"You don't, babe. Nobody does. You're just lucky. Enjoy it." Danny turned to Chin to catch him up on the situation and let him know they were taking the rest of the day.

*

They sat side-by-side, staring out at the red streaks in the sky from the setting sun. Danny finished his beer and noticed Steve had barely touched his, the bottle sat sweating on the arm of his chair.

"What's up, Prince Charming?"

Steve raised an eyebrow. "If you call me that I am going to start calling you 'Princess'"

"Why? Danny made a face of not-so-mock-outrage.

"Because if this is my happy ending, then you're my princess." Steve grinned and it was the first time he'd smiled in almost a week and Danny was damn glad to see it.

"Why can't you be the princess?"

"One, I already have the prince outfit and two, I'm taller. The princess can't be taller than the prince. Think about how the photos would look!" Steve was laughing.

"Why do I put up with you?" Danny shook his head.

Steve stood up and held out his hand. "Come on."

"What? I'm comfortable," Danny grumbled.

"Danny. Come upstairs with me." Steve looked fondly exasperated.

"Oh," Danny caught on. He nodded. "OK."

And they didn't come downstairs until morning.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos make my day, but concrit is always welcome.


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